Environmental playground for handicapped children

ABSTRACT

A central bowl of soft resilient material defining a concave tumbling area is surrounded by an outer wall to define an annular passageway between the exterior of the bowl and the inside wall surfaces of the surrounding outer wall. The annular passageway includes various three dimensional members of soft resilient materials similar to pillows of varying shapes. These members define an obstacle course for children circling around the central bowl. The inner surfaces of the surrounding wall may include textured designs in relief to provide tactual and visual stimulation. The central bowl serves as a &#39;&#39;&#39;&#39;social center&#39;&#39;&#39;&#39; for the children at play.

[451 June5,-1973 United States Patent [191 Taylor et al.

[54] ENVIRONMENTAL PLAYGROUND FOR HANDICAPPED CHILDREN PrimaryExaminerRichard C. Pinkham Assistant Examiner-H. Israel t A. l t [76]Inven ors Marvin Tay or, Jane Louise Attorney Pastoriza & Kelly Taylor,both of 4920 Dixie Drive, San Diego, Calif. 92109 Aug. 9, 1972 [57]ABSTRACT A central bowl of soft resilient material defining a concavetumbling area is surrounded by an outer wall to define an annularpassageway between the exterior of the bowl and the inside wall surfacesof the sur- [22] Filed:

211 Appl. No.: 279,209

[52] US. 272/1 R rounding outer wall. The annular passageway includesvarious three dimensional members of soft resilient materials similar topillows of varying shapes. These [58] Field of Search 272/1 A; 52/245,246

members define an obstacle course for children circling around thecentral bowl. The inner surfaces of References Cited 1 the surroundingwall may include textured designs in UNITED STATES PATENTS relief toprovide tactual and visual stimulation. The

.272/1 A central bowl serves as a social center for the chi]- 272/1 Rdren at play. Schoen ......272/60Schillig...;........t......................272/60 5 Claims, 4 DrawingFigures 5/1940 Howard............................... 11/1955Rees.....,.....

lllll 2i PATENTEDJUH 5 I975 ENTRANCE F-K-L4.

ENVIRONMENTAL PLAYGROUND FOR I-IANDICAPPED CHILDREN This inventionrelates broadly to therapy techniques in connection with handicappedchildren and more particularly to a specially designed artificialenvironmental playground for such children.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Sensory-motor co-ordination experiences areof particular importance in certain types of handicapped children; forexample, brain damaged, mentally retarded, partially or completelyblind, cerebral palsy, and autistic children. While there are manyphysical therapy programs, there is often very little carry-over fromtherapy sessions to other activities. Children of the type underconsideration usually exhibit difficulty in moving about a normal roomor play yard and often times, such environment can be physicallyhazardous to the child.

Aside from the foregoing, it is desirable to induce in some of theatypical children a social development and incentive to move away fromthe self; that is, an encouragement to explore their environment.

Funds for dealing with handicapped children are nearly always limitedand thus any proposed solutions to the above problems should be broughtabout with the end in view of avoiding recurring expenses.

The present invention has for its primary object to provide a safe typetherapeutic environment for-handicapped children which stimulates theirsensory-motor responses and encourages exploration and self-relianttypes of activity.

More particularly, the present invention contemplates a specialenvironmental playground for handicapped children which, in essence,constitutes a forgiving environment wherein the child cannot hurthimself and yet can develop his capabilities towards maximum potentialwithout the necessity of adult guidance. In fact, the presence of adultsis undesirable in many types of therapy. These adults often appear asinterfering giants to the particular children involved.

Not only is physical motor co-ordination developed but in additionvisual and tactual sensitivities are stimulated.

Essentially, the special environment comprises a central bowl shapedstructure of soft resilient material defining a concave tumbling areafor the children. A surrounding wall in turn defines with the exteriorside wall of the bowl rim an annular passageway passing completelyaround the bowl. A plurality of soft, resilient three dimensionalmembers defining various obstacles are positioned in the passageway overwhich the childrcn can climb as they progress around the bowl.

The environment is completed by providing at least some of the interiorsurfaces of the surrounding wall with textured, relief-like designs todefine sensory murals for stimulating visual and tactual sensitivitiesof the child.

The round or annular arrangement of the passage provides essentially anendless pathway for children to follow and explore. The central bowl inturn provides a social environment wherein they can tumble or rolltogether at any particular point from the exterior passageway. Allmaterials involved are soft and rounded so that there is no possibilityof a child injuring himself or herself and no adult supervision isnecessary.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS A better understanding of theinvention will be had by referring to the accompanying drawings inwhich:

FIG. 1 is a cut away perspective view of the basic structure making upthe environmental playground;

FIG. 2 is a cut away perspective view of a section of the central bowlstructure of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a cut away perspective view of one of several threedimensional members used in the environment of FIG. 1; and,

FIG. 4 is a top section of the exterior walland plan view of the centralbowl taken in the direction of the arrows 4-4 of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring first to FIG.1 there is shown a central bowl 10 which may be formed from pie shapedsections such as indicated at 10a and 10b to define a concave tumblingarea 11 for children.

With particular reference to FIG. 2, a typical pie shaped section suchas 10b is formed of solid resilient urethane foam l2 typically of aheight H corresponding generally to the shoulder height of a child. Thetop surface 11 is of concave shape slopingdownwardly and inwardlytowards the vertex. The'length of the sloping surface is designated Rand is greater than the height H. Preferably, the distance R is designedsuch that a child may roll over twice from the rim or edge of the bowlbefore reaching the center. In the preferred embodiment, the concavetumbling surface constitutes a portion of a paraboloid.

With the sections fitted together to form the bowl 10 shown in FIG. 1, aflexible covering of any suitable material such as naugahyde 13 servesto, hold the sections in their assembled relationship.

Referring back to FIG. 1, the overall diameter of the bowl is indicatedat D and would normally be about three to four times the height. Atypical dimensioning for children from 2 to 4 years old would be H 30inches, D 6 feet, and the distance along the sloping surface to thecenter in a radial direction designated R, about 40 inches.

By making the bowl generally of a paraboloid shape, the central area isfairly flat to allow a child to crawl, kneel, walk or roll.

Surrounding the bowl is a wall 14 which may be made up of sections suchas indicated at 14a and 14b. In the particular embodiment illustrated,the surrounding wall is hexagonal shaped and might be of the order oftwelve feet across. Entrance and exit areas through a common singleopening are indicated at 15 and 16 in one of the wall sections. 1

With the wall 14 surrounding the central bowl, there is defined betweenthe interior of the wall and the exterior wall of the bowl itself anannular passageway 17. The width of the passageway may be about the sameas the height H of the bowl; for example, 2 A feet. The surrounding wallitself is preferably higher than the bowl to assure that children areconfined within the area. Typical heights of the surrounding wall may befrom 4 to 6 feet.

The environment is completed by the provision of a plurality of soft,resilient three dimensional members having various shapes such asprisms, wedges and the like. Other configurations of these objectsdefine ramps, slides, and even stairs.

The above described members are positioned in the passageway 17 to serveas an uneven or irregular surface which is increasingly more difficultfor the children to balance on and more over. Thus, wedges and prismshapes near the entrance have less of a slope than those near the exit.One typical member is indicated at 18 and constitutes a combinationtriangular and wedge shaped member.

With particular reference to FlG. 3, this member 18 is shown as having asloping top triangular surface 19 defined by solid resilient urethanefoam 20. A covering 21 of flexible material such as naugahyde wouldcompletely enclose the foam. In FIG. 3, one side is shown open to exposethe urethane foam 20.

Referring to the plan view of FIG. 4, other typical shapes for the threedimensional members are shown at 22 which might comprise a ramp 23 shownaround the opposite portion of the passage in the form of stairs, and 24in the form of an inclined surface. The irregular bag shaped member 25serves as a landing area from the slide 24.

It'should be understood that the various members such as typically shownin FIG. 3 may be of modular design so that they can readily bepositioned in different portions of the passageway 17 so that theenvironment or obstacle course which a child must travel can be variedas desired. It should be understood that all of the members have roundedcorners and are designed so that the passageway is substantially filledso that there are no hard surfaces exposed which might injure a child.

The surrounding wall 14 may be formed of plywood sections and in accordwith an important feature of the invention, the inner surfaces of atleast some of the surrounding walls are provided with textured,relief-like designs to define sensory murals for stimulating visual andtactual sensitivities of the child. For example, there may be provided ajungle scene in which trees and animals are roughly outlined. Anothermural might constitute a farm or a water scene. Desirably, the sensorymurals include means for providing aromas associated with the particularenvironment depicted to stimulate the olfactory sensitivities of thechild, particularly blind children.

OPERATION ln operation, a child or children will enter the entrance andexplore along the passageway 17 moving generally in a counterclockwisedirection as illustrated by the arrows in FIG. 4. Insofar as the childis concerned, there is effectively no beginning" or end to place for thechildren during their play in the environment.

As the children progress around the passageway, they will see and canfeel the textured wall designs or sensory murals. Further, these walldesigns may be carefully colored and the various environmental obstaclesin the form of the pillow like members may also be colored.

Because of the soft, forgiving nature of the environment, no adultsupervision is required. On the other hand, observation of the childrencan take place over the top of the surrounding wall if desired.

From the foregoing description, it will be evident that the presentinvention has provided a unique environmental playground particularlyuseful for handicapped children which may be used again and againwithout additional expense and wherein the various environmental objectsthemselves may be readily changed or relocated to provide a continuouslystimulating challenge to the children.

What is claimed is:

1. An environmental playground for handicapped children comprising incombination:

a. a central bowl-shaped structure of soft resilient material defining aconcave tumbling area for the children;

b. a surrounding wall'defining with the exterior side wall of the bowl apassageway passing annularly completely around the bowl; and,

c. a plurality of soft, resilient three-dimensional members definingvarious obstacles in said passageway over which children can climb asthey progress around the bowl.

2. The subject matter of claim 1, in which said bowl is made up of aplurality of pie-shaped sections, each section having an outer side wallof height corresponding approximately to the shoulder height of achildand a smooth curve top surface sloping downwardly and inwardlytowards the vertex of the pie-shaped section to define part of theconcave tumbling area, the radial length thereof being greater than theheight of the wall, the section comprising solid resilient foammaterial; and a smooth flexible material covering the various sectionswhen fitted together to define the bowl.

3. The subject matter of claim 1, in which said plurality of soft,resilient three-dimensional members include prism and wedge shapedobjects and other configurations defining ramps and stairs, each of themembers including solid resilient foam covered by flexible material, thevarious members being repositionable at various locations in thepassageway so that the environment can be varied.

4. The subject matter of claim 1, in which at least some of the interiorsurfaces of the surrounding wall are provided with textured, relief-likedesigns to define sensory murals for stimulating visual and tactualsensitivities of the child.

5. The subject matter of claim 4, in which at least some the sensorymurals include means for providing aromas to stimulate the olfactorysensitivities of the

1. An environmental playground for handicapped children comprising incombination: a. a central bowl-shaped structure of soft resilientmaterial defining a concave tumbling area for the children; b. asurrounding wall defining with the exterior side wall of the bowl apassAgeway passing annularly completely around the bowl; and, c. aplurality of soft, resilient three-dimensional members defining variousobstacles in said passageway over which children can climb as theyprogress around the bowl.
 2. The subject matter of claim 1, in whichsaid bowl is made up of a plurality of pie-shaped sections, each sectionhaving an outer side wall of height corresponding approximately to theshoulder height of a child and a smooth curve top surface slopingdownwardly and inwardly towards the vertex of the pie-shaped section todefine part of the concave tumbling area, the radial length thereofbeing greater than the height of the wall, the section comprising solidresilient foam material; and a smooth flexible material covering thevarious sections when fitted together to define the bowl.
 3. The subjectmatter of claim 1, in which said plurality of soft, resilientthree-dimensional members include prism and wedge shaped objects andother configurations defining ramps and stairs, each of the membersincluding solid resilient foam covered by flexible material, the variousmembers being repositionable at various locations in the passageway sothat the environment can be varied.
 4. The subject matter of claim 1, inwhich at least some of the interior surfaces of the surrounding wall areprovided with textured, relief-like designs to define sensory murals forstimulating visual and tactual sensitivities of the child.
 5. Thesubject matter of claim 4, in which at least some the sensory muralsinclude means for providing aromas to stimulate the olfactorysensitivities of the child.